Between You and Me
by White Artemis
Summary: Anime: Dear Boys. "I need to know is she's okay. I don't care if you break my arm and never let me play basketball. I just want to see her smile... and that's enough."


Author's note: It has been a long time since I uploaded any stories to years actually. This is one of my stories in my other account, so I just revised it's title and story plot. But after all this time, I still can't seem to find the Dear Boys category. Is there one? If there is, please kindly tell me. I'll gladly change it from the where I'll be putting this. But for now, it'll stay here. Dear Boys had become one of my favorite animes. I believe there are fans out there as well, although only a handful. So, here's a toast to all Dear Boys fans out there! Enjoy!

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It was a sunny morning and the weather was just right. Despite the early morning sun singing praises in the sky, the wind was soft and cozy. Classes had just started and the students have settled in their seats as the first teacher calls on the attendance. Things seemed pretty quiet for Mizuho High, except a set of hurrying footsteps echoed the halls. A certain blue-haired young man ran into the room with his usual bright and cocky smile as he greeted everyone in the room. "Morning, everyone!"

"Kazuhiko! Don't you know that you're late, again!" Himuro-sensai asked in an angry manner as she slammed the attendance book down the table and putting her hands on her waist. It seemed like a morning routine for them. And despite it being routinary, Aikawa never seemed to be bothered by it.

"Heh. Sorry…" Aikawa replied as he scratched his head.

Everyone in the classroom laughed. They knew too well enough that Aikawa always meant well. His cheery disposition was something people looked forward into seeing. If it weren't for his annoying and completely sheer determination, the Mizuho man's basketball team won't be formed again.

"Fine… 2 hours detention." Himuro-sensai smirked, finally deciding on the 'punishment'. Even if Aikawa always seemed to be late, Ms. Himuro doesn't always give him the detention consequence.

"What! But I have basketball practice!" Aikawa hollered, trying into reasoning. _I can't be late for pratice today... I have big plans for Pony-chan and me... I really should stop being so shy towards me. It's eating me up! Why can't I be cocky and loud when I'm with her? _"And you can't do this to me too! You're my coach! You can't make me late!" _Please, not today. Not today that I finally have the courage to have a plan and say something! _"And besides, you're going to make me run 50 laps too!" Aikawa compalined.

"Back to your seat, Mr. Kazuhiko. If you don't want me getting on my nerves and actually making you clean the boys bathroom too, then you better keep shut." Himuro sensai said firmly as she eyed on Aikawa.

Aikawa sighed back and quickly went to his desk at the far end of the room beside Fujiwara. _Aw, man! This means that I can't get to go on with my plan. But hey, there are other days, right? _Aikawa thought happily as he glanced on his left, expecting to see **his **pony-chan. Only...

"Himuro-sensai, where's Moritaka?" he asked, a bit worried but not trying to let anyone notice.

Himuro-sensai glanced at Matsumi, waiting for her to reply to the question. She knew that only Matsumi would know ehere Moritaka would be. It had been only a year since Moritaka and Matsumi had been together, but they became fast friends. Their common talent in basketball was something thsat pushed them to be closer and everytime they'd be seen together, it was as if they were inseparable.

"I'm not sure… she didn't call me that she'll be in late." Matsumi replied, trying to rethink the night before if she and Moritaka talked on the phone.

Himuro-sensai nodded back thinking that she must just be late or sick. "Heard that, Aikawa? Now, could you please sit down so we could go on with our lessons?" she asked back as she faced the board and started to write the lessons for the day. _Hmmm... it seems that our star player has finally been attracted to our little pony-chan..._

Aikawa gave a thoughtful look and nodded. _Maybe she's just late... but if she's sick... whee! I can go visit her! This isn't such a bad day, after all. _He sat on his chair and whispered to Fujiwara. "Do you know what happened to Moritaka?" Aikawa asked again. It seems that despite his mind telling him to cool off, worry was still evident. Fujiwara, with his usual cool-tone answered, "Why should I know, she's your girlfriend, not mine."

Aikawa blushed deep red, "she's not my girlfriend!" he hissed back, taken aback by the comment he knew he should have just stayed quiet with.

Fujiwara raised a brow. That was a first. Aikawa had actually lost his 'coolness' back there. _So the cool guy does have a weakness. Hehehe, I can use that to my advantage sometime. _"If you say so…" Fujiwara simply replied.

00000000

Aikawa came running in the gym from his detention. The team had already started doing their warm-ups and were ready getting the balls from the storage. "Finally, you're here." Miura said as he passed a ball to Aikawa, whose quick reflexes catched the ball.

"That should be a lesson to you not to be late in class." Ishii said with a smirk as he tried shooting some hoops with Dobashi. "Yeah, right. You're always late as well…" Miura retorted as he gave a scowl. Everyone knew that they were just playing around. It was like a daily routine for them to try picking on each other. "I am not! You don't see me going to detention." Ishii replied as he gave Miura an icy look. "That's because you skip detention." Dobashi said with a small laugh. Everyone in the gym followed as well. Ishii just smiled back and kept quiet as dribbled the ball, murmuring soft curses to the air. He knew well enough what the others said were true. But then, this was something he just enjoyed hearing.

Himuro-sensai blew the whistle and everyone gathered around her. "The girls team will be having a game next week with Shizuko High-" "We're having a rematch, coach?" Matsumi asked, surprised. As the team captain, she knew that last week's game with Shizuko high was very important. Due to their loss at the last ball, the Mizuho Girl's Team lost their chances of entering the inter-high. Himuro sensai smiled. "Yes. I know we have lost last week's game with them but the last ball between Moritaka and Kensha was placed and decided as a foul. Therefore, a rematch is in order as requested by the board."

"That… that would mean that, if we win… we'll enter the inter-high!" Yukiko said gleefully as she looked at each of her team mates, hope and fire gleaming in their eyes.

Himuro sensai smiled and nodded. "Yes, now I want to have a practice game between the boys and girls so we could prepare better. Would that be alright with you, Fujiwara?" "No problem." Fujiwara replied with a simple nod.

"Of course, Fuji will say yes! After all, Matsumi needs him!" Ishii cooed.

Everyone in the gym laughed, leaving Matsumi and Fujiwara to blush and Fujiwara, dumping a basketball to Ishii's head for that remark. "The sub-captain would most likely agree as well…" Fuji replied, remembering what happened earlier that day.

"Oh yah! That's because he has her pony-chan!" Ishii cried happily again.

"Speaking of which, where is Moritaka?" Miura asked, noticing the absence of a certain blonde.

"I called her house a while ago, it seems that Moritaka is sick." Himuro-sensai replied. After her class early that morning, she directly went to her office to check on Moritaka. She also knew Moritaka well enough not to skip or cut class.

"She was fine yesterday…" Aikawa said, remembering how Moritaka was the day they went out. _She looked really beautiful with her hair down… _unknown to Aikawa, a blush was already forming on his face. And everyone can see it.

"Yesterday? Yesterday was Sunday. How could you- Oh. You two went out…" Ishii said slyly, trying to catch Aikawa off guard. Aikawa gave an 'uh-oh' look. Finally noticing his blush and quickly turned away.

"You two went out on a date, how sweet!" the other girls said happily. "where did you go?" "what did you do?" "did you two kiss?" "What did you wear?" "what did she wear?" "what time did you go home?" All these questions bombarded Aikawa like a bullet. He didn't know how to answer them. Sweat drops started to appear as he tried to answer the questions one by one. Thankfully, Himuro sensai blew her whistle.

"Time for practice, c'mon girls!" she said while she clapped her hands. "Aaaaw…" the girls said in disappointment as they retreated and went back to their practice. Aikawa gave Himuro-sensai a thankful look as he proceeded to the benches to get warmed-up.

"Was she really okay, yesterday?" Matsumi asked as she approached Aikawa. He nodded back. "I left her earlier because I had a part-time job. But I'm sure she was fine. Why? Did anything go wrong?" Aikawa asked. _Although I wish I didn't… I swear I was ready to tell her everything! Of all times to mess up… why yesterday? _"Well… I'm just worried. Moritaka never gets sick. I think it's more of…" Matsumi said in realization that her hunch may be right. Aikawa gave a confused look,"of what?""Well… maybe she's just really sad about losing that game. I think she's blaming herself for that lose." Matsumi said as she looked at the court sadly. She knew well enough that Moritaka really felt down after the game they had. The ball was already within her hands and she missed the shot by just a few centimeters. Of course, none of the team blamed her. But feeling the pressure, Moritaka knew that if that ball went it, they would already be a part of the inter-high tournament.

"She seemed okay and-" Aikawa started to say.

"She _seemed _okay." Matusmi stressed on the seem. "You might not know it, but Moritaka is very sensitive with her feelings. She's gone through a lot but she always held on hard. That's why I have every reason to be worried about her. She never tells her feelings to anyone. Not even to me. When I heard she went out with you, I thought that maybe she had mentioned anything. Did she, Aikawa?" Matsumi asked, looking very worried.

"No. Not at all. But don't you think she'll be happy to hear the news about the re-match?" Aikawa thought happily, noting that he has to talk to Moritaka about that issue.

"I already told her." Himuro-sensai said as she approached the two.

"What did she say?" Matsumi asked, eagerly waiting for the answer.

"It was her mother who answered the phone and-" but before Ms. Himuro could continue with what she was saying; Matsumi asked, "Mother?"

"Well, yes. She said she was her mother and-" Himuro-sensai started again.

"Oh great. The devil is back." Matsumi said as a dark cloud crossed her eyes. "no wonder…" she mumbled as she started to hurry out of the gym.

Hiumuro-sensai and Aikawa gave a confused look to each other. "I better go and check on Moritaka…" Aikawa said politely to Ms. Himuro as he bowed down respectfully and left the gym as well.


End file.
